A Photo Gallery of Birds I photographed in 2020

Hi friends!

This is my last post for the current year and I thought it would be a good idea to share with you some of the pictures with birds I’ve taken during 2020 that I’m especially fond of. I initially wanted to name this article “Best Bird Pictures Taken in 2020” or something similar but such appreciations might be pretty subjective and possibly arrogant (or might create such an appearance). So I thought it’s best to let you judge the “goodness” of my photos and decide if they really stand out.

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More Findings on Photographing Birds

Hi again friends!

Another year has almost passed with all the good and the bad stuff. Time runs faster and faster, its flow never stops. And neither do the birds! Well they stop from time to time to rest on a branch, on sidewalks or roofs and then they fly again. Or they keep swimming into lakes and seas in search for their precious food. Either way for me it is a delight both watching and photographing them. For improving my bird photography results, this year I even bought a new lens (Tamron 100-400mm f4.5-6.3) which is both faster (in autofocus) and longer than the old one (a 70-300mm Tamron). After using it more times I came to some conclusions both regarding settings and taking bird pictures in general, some of which might apply to other photographic genres as well.

Let me share my new findings with you.

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The Game of Light and Shadow

Hi folks!

Photography is about light. It literally means drawing with light. For this reason the light quality is the primary factor of getting a good photo. There are two scenarios that come into play: the indoor scenario where the light is controllable (say studio) and shooting outdoors. In the latter one the situation is completely different as we are talking about lots of sub-scenarios: morning sun, noon/afternoon, overcast sky with clearly defined clouds, continuous clouds with no clear boundaries, magic sunset, fog, sky after rain and so on. The quality of light gets influenced by many factors which proves to be quite a challenge for the artist. Actually some photographers first carefully check the weather forecast in a specific region prior to going out in the field. A little pre-work might really make the difference!

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Pictures Taken During Quarantine (Lockdown)

Hi guys,

This is my first post after the “official” end of quarantine in Romania. As in many other countries the pandemic situation caused a lockdown so all inhabitants had to stay in their houses unless a good justification was in place to go out. And of course photography was not accepted as a reason. 

I won’t comment much on this situation as the internet is full of opinions and to be honest I’m pretty fed up with this subject. What I would like to talk about instead is how I handled this from a photographic point of view.

As probably mentioned before I consider myself an outdoor photographer and taking nature pictures is almost synonym with “get out of the house”. Consequently by being forced into a “house arrest” my options were severely limited so I had to find more opportunities indoors. Let me present you the ones I found and took advantage of.

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Why Snow is a Perfect Setup for Photography (2)

Hi folks!

As already mentioned in this post, snow is a perfect opportunity to take memorable pictures. In the current article I’ll continue the debate on this subject by focusing on urban areas.

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Manual Exposure and the Ansel Adams Zone System

Hi friends!

In this post I’m going to write about a few advanced photography topics: manual exposure and how to use the zone system that was discovered by the great photographer Ansel Adams.

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Why Snow is a Perfect Setup for Photography

Hi folks!

It’s still winter! Actually we’re in the middle of it and in many places it’s a fantastic moment for taking outdoor pictures. The reason is simple: snow!

In this post I’ll present you some of my findings about taking outdoor pictures when (almost) everything is white.

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Nikon D500. How I came to buy it and first thoughts

Hi folks!

First let me wish you a Happy New Year and all the best for 2019!

This is my first post that is dedicated to photographic gear. And yes, it’s about Nikon as this is what I’ve been using for over eight years. Don’t ask me why I chose Nikon in the first place, it’s just a personal preference. It could have been Canon, Sony, Pentax or another vendor. I’m sure there are plenty of good cameras from all of them but I can only talk about gear I’ve been actively using.

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What Photography Means To Me (5)

As mentioned in one of my previous posts photography can be an expensive hobby. Many people think it’s not worth spending a lot of money in photo gear unless a return on investment is expected, otherwise mentioned “you get your money back”. This made me ask myself this question quite often in the past: “should I start taking photos for money”? Should I become a professional photographer?

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What Photography Means to Me (4)

Hi folks!

First let me wish you a Happy New Year! May all your dreams come true in 2018!

Back to photography let me add a new article to the series of posts started 2 years ago that express my view on this wonderful hobby and art.

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